Rosetta en Integral in gereedheid gebracht voor lancering


Integral artist’s impression
 
The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in October 2002 and will help to solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy.

Route langs Mars en planetoïden
 
Rosetta approaches Comet Wirtanen
 
ESA’s Comet Rendezvous Mission, which has been selected as a Cornerstone mission of ESA’s long-term science program Horizon 2000. The mission goal is a rendezvous with comet 46P/Wirtanen. On its eight-year journey to the comet, the spacecraft will fly by close to two asteroids. The spacecraft will map the comet’s surface in fine detail and land a package of instruments (the Rosetta Lander) to study some of the most primitive, un-processed material in the solar system. The mission will provide clues to the physical and chemical processes that marked the systems beginning 4.6 billion years ago. Rosetta will be launched in January 2003 by an Ariane-5 from Kourou, French Guiana. Courtesy: Astrium

Landing op de komeet
 
Rosetta’s orbiter
 
The Rosetta Orbiter swoops over the Lander soon after touchdown on the nucleus of Comet 46P/Wirtanen.
Rosetta will be launched in January 2003 by an Ariane-5 from Kourou, French Guiana. To gain enough orbital energy to reach its target, one Mars and two Earth gravity assists will be required. The long mission duration required the introduction of extended hibernation periods.
Rosetta will study the nucleus of comet Wirtanen and its environment in great detail for a period of nearly two years, the near-nucleus phase starting at a heliocentric distance of about 3.25 AU, with far-observation activities leading ultimately to close observation (from about one km distance). photo:Astrium/Erik Viktor

Integral: speuren naar gammastraling uit de ruimte
 
Integral in test
 
ESA's Integral under test at ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, June 2002.

INTEGRAL, ESA's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, is intended to gather the most energetic radiation that comes from space. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch in October 2002 and will help to solve some of the biggest mysteries in astronomy.



Release date: 19 augustus 2002